Boris Johnson news: Ireland government says it ‘cannot possibly’ accept PM's Brexit plan, as he faces fresh Jennifer Arcuri claims
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson’s government has said the EU must enter 10 days of “intensive discussions” by the weekend, as the PM seeks backing for his Brexit proposal. But European Parliament’s Brexit steering group and the Irish government labelled them unacceptable.
Jean-Claude Juncker spoke to Leo Varadkar about Mr Johnson's latest Brexit proposals on Thursday, and a European Commission statement later reiterated yesterday's immediate response to their release - thanks for this, but it needs work.
"The Withdrawal Agreement must have a legally operational solution now, and cannot be based on untried arrangements that would be left to negotiation during the transition period," the statement added.
Opposition parties also reacted with hostility. Labour warned the proposals put the Good Friday Agreement in jeopardy, while the SNP and Lib Dems claimed they were “designed to fail” and push the country towards a no-deal exit.
Also on Thursday, Mr Johnson was hit by fresh claims over his relationship with Jennifer Arcuri, with a former aide alleging the PM asked for his friend to be included in a trade trip to Israel while he was mayor of London.
In Northern Ireland, the Belfast High Court ruled that the country's abortion restrictions breached the UK's human rights law. Sarah Ewart, who was forced to travel to England to terminate her pregnancy in 2013, brought the case. “It feels like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. It has been a long journey," she said.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson now. “His plan has been denounced as the worst of both worlds,” she says.
She asks whether the PM is willing to go to Northern Ireland and listen to people’s concerns. “Or does he just not care?”
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson addresses the House of Commons
Change UK leader Anna Soubry has asked whether any party or organisation – other than the DUP – has actually issued support for his plan.
“I hope it will have her support,” he replies.
Soubry laughs.
Former prime minister Theresa May looking extremely unimpressed with what Boris Johnson has to say about his Brexit plan.
Theresa May listens to the prime minister in the Commons
Ireland’s deputy premier Simon Coveney has said his government “cannot possibly support” any Brexit deal that would give a Stormont party a veto over the operation of post-Brexit arrangements.
Coveney said Boris Johnson’s proposal for customs checks on the island also presented a problem.
The prime minister wants to give the Northern Ireland Assembly a vote on whether to opt in to an all-island regulatory system post-Brexit, and also give the devolved legislature a say on whether it wants to continue the arrangement after an initial four-year period.
Addressing the Dail parliament in Dublin, Coveney said: “We cannot support any proposal that suggests that one party or indeed a minority in Northern Ireland could make the decision for the majority in terms of how these proposals would be implemented in the future.
“That is not consistent with the Good Friday Agreement. It is not something we could possibly support as part of any final deal.”
The European parliament’s steering group chief Guy Verhofstadt has said it will be “nearly impossible” for the EU to agree on Boris Johnson’s plan.
You may recall Boris Johnson made a joke in his conference speech about John Bercow eating a kangaroo’s testicle in the jungle.
Well, Bercow – who is extremely croaky today – has just said his sore throat is not due to the “consumption of a kangaroo’s testicle”.
The Labour party chairman Ian Lavery has accused Boris Johnson of “dark political theatre”.
Labour MP Paul Sweeney has just told Boris Johnson that the Irish deputy leader Simon Coveney has been speaking in the Irish parliament and has said Dublin “cannot possibly” support the plan.
Johnson says he will be happy to discuss his plan with Coveney.
More sour mood music. EU officials have told our political commentator Andrew Grice that the UK’s proposals are “totally unacceptable” and “not going to fly”.
Read more here:
Boris Johnson faced a torrent of criticism that his plan lacked support in Northern Ireland and would break the law by imposing new customs checks, writes our deputy political editor Rob Merrick.
Challenged to name a single business that backed the blueprint, the prime minister was only able to say that companies badly wanted an agreement of some sort.
Hilary Benn, the chairman of the Commons Brexit committee, protested that the proposals put the Good Friday Agreement at risk.
He pointed out that the withdrawal act passed last year bars any new “checks and controls” in Ireland – yet Johnson had announced “there will be customs checks in Northern Ireland”, albeit not at the border.
And Sylvia Hermon, Independent MP for North Down, said: “The prime minister’s proposals prove quite clearly that he does not understand Northern Ireland.
“While the prime minister is perfectly happy, it seems, to dance to the tune of his friends in the Democratic Unionist Party, he forgets or chooses to ignore the fact that the DUP does not represent the majority of people in Northern Ireland.”
Lady Hermon added: “The majority of people in Northern Ireland will be extremely concerned by the proposals that he has tabled yesterday, which introduce two borders.”
The prime minister also raised eyebrows by claiming there would be no checks on goods flowing from Northern Ireland into Great Britain – despite the plan for the two places to have different regulations.
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